Can a Xinjiang Nut Cake Help Sweeten Han Chinese-Uighur Relations?

A screen shot from Adili's Taobao webpage showing the qiegao they sell.

Taobao

A snack from Xinjiang known as qiegao, once spurned in much of China, is suddenly getting popular.

Made of stewed sugar, walnuts, raisin and dates, qiegao is sold on carts by street vendors, mostly ethnic Uighurs from Xinjiang. The sweet is sold in slices cut from a large block, hence its name, which in Chinese means cut pastry.

Yet many Han Chinese avoid eating the sweet. In some parts of the country, including Beijing, students are warned away from buying it, with campus handbooks warning students away from the treat altogether. “You should never ever buy qiegao from street vendors,” runs one entry in a student handbook given out at Renmin University, which adds that students shouldn’t ask why.

Some of the hesitance about the snack stems from the fact that vendors use a long, sharp knife to cut qiegao. That, coupled with language barriers and the belief among many consumers that vendors always cut more than what’s been asked for—and then pressure buyers into paying more—have kept buyers away. In 2012, one dispute between a Uighur snack vendor and a customer prompted a fight that ended with the buyer paying some 150,000 yuan in damages, which only further convinced Han Chinese consumers that the snack was a luxury they couldn’t afford.

But qiegao is now getting a boost from state media. Earlier this month, the sequel to the documentary “A Bite of China,” produced by state broadcaster CCTV, did a segment featuring qiegao, in which producers traveled to Xinjiang to see how the dish is made.

Since the show was aired, one Uighur student named Adili Maimaititure has been reaping the benefits, as more Chinese have raced to try the sweet. Mr. Maimaititure, a student at Hunan’s Changsha University of Science and Technology, opened an online shop on e-commerce site Taobao with two schoolmates in 2012. Following the May feature on qiegao, he told state media, he has been receiving as many as 3,000 orders a day. Prior to qiegao receiving attention from “A Bite of China,” he said, his sales were as low as 10 orders per day.

Mr. Maimaititure said was inspired to found the online shop so he could share the traditional food from his hometown. “Do you remember the qiegao incident that made qiegao well-known? People want to have a taste of qiegao but never get the authentic ones, therefore, they think qiegao sellers trick people, which is not true. We aspire to be the first one selling authentic qiegao,” he said in a promotional video, posted to his site. Though Mr. Maimaititure didn’t say explicitly what incident he was referring to, his shop was opened in late 2012, following the aforementioned well-publicized incident in which a Uighur vendor and a customer clashed.

It’s a message that’s been received well. Mr. Maimaititure’s shop is currently the top seller of qiegao on Taobao. Many buyers have left messages of support on his site.

“I bought qiegao from a street vendor once. It was covered by walnuts on the surface but inside was such sugar. I felt tricked. But I had to pay anyway after hearing the Xinjiang guy shouting madly that I had to buy since it was already cut…This time qiegao is really good,” one buyer wrote.

Violent attacks on mainly Han Chinese civilians in Xinjiang and beyond have put the country on alert in recent months, with the government blaming attacks on Uighur separatists. Exile Uighur communities, meanwhile, say such violence stems from the government’s heavy-handed tactics in the region.

This week, CCTV urged more people in China to try food from Xinjiang to better understand the region. “You can taste the unique characteristics of every place from local food,” the broadcaster wrote on its verified Weibo account. “Be close to Xinjiang’s magnificence and start with Xinjiang food.”